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The meeting between the UN, the Coalition, and the Iraqi Governing Council on 19 January suggests that the harsh realities of an election year in the U.S. may be making elections more feasible in Iraq.

The International Court of Justices advisory opinion on the legal consequences of the Israeli Wall in the Occupied Territories is a triumphant vindication of the Palestinian decision to get their case heard there, and of their long term strategy of underlining and restating their legal rights.

The "High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change" that Kofi Annan asked to study how the UN copes with the threats of the new century and their report, "A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility," admirably points out that there is more to reform than simply tinkering with organizational diagrams and flowcharts.

While on one level appointing John Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations is the contemporary equivalent of having King Herod as head of UNICEF, there is some comfort to be drawn from it. He will be singularly ineffective in winning friends and support for the White House’s policies.